Our overall rating: 9 out of 10
Gigaclear is part of a new wave of alternative network providers (alnet) offering very fast full fibre broadband using its own network. This means it doesn’t have to rely on Openreach or Virgin Media for their rollout plans, so it’s taken charge on bringing the fastest broadband to remoter locations often overlooked by the other networks.
If you’re living in a city, chances are this won’t be a broadband option for you. Gigaclear is currently only available to 300,000 rural homes and businesses, but growing rapidly. If accessible to you, you’ll be able to enjoy superfast speeds at very competitive prices.
The positives
The negatives
In our full review we take a look at the pros and cons of each area in more detail: speed, full fibre review, cost, setup and customer service.
Very fast! As a full fibre service on its own network, Gigaclear is much quicker than most other providers. It uses its own full fibre connection to deliver lightning-fast speeds to households. If you are in a rural area this will very likely be the fastest – and sometimes the only – service available for you.
But remember, where you live will also play a big factor. We’ll list everything below, but you’ll also need to check your postcode to see what is currently available.
Find out what Wi-Fi is available with our postcode checker.
Speed is often the biggest consideration when choosing a broadband package. If you have multiple people using the internet at one time, then a higher speed and bandwidth will be essential. Equally, if it’s a small household using the internet for everyday usage, paying for business-grade bandwidth will probably end up being a waste.
You should decide what speed is right for you, based on your broadband habits at home. Here’s a handy guide to help show what bandwidth usage your different applications need.
There are four full-fibre options. All are symmetrical. This means that they give the same upload and download speeds. Upload speeds are normally considerably lower, which makes this a great choice if you need a connection that can handle with very large file uploads.
Their entry-level superfast package can easily handle ten+ devices all requiring an internet connection at the same time.
Ultrafast 300
This even speedier service is great for larger households. Gamers will be kept happy with its equal-to-download speeds of 300Mbps.
Ultrafast 400
Incredibly fast connection, perfect for large households, multiple devices and downloading and streaming movies and videogames in UHD (ultra high definition). This has an average download and upload speed of 400Mbps.
Hyperfast 900
Gigaclear’s fastest service. This full-fibre package offers users an impressive average download and upload speed of 830Mbps which will easily cover all high-use working and gaming internet usage in large, busy households.
What exactly is full fibre?
All of Gigaclear’s plans are full fibre and it’s the fastest available internet in the UK.
Around two-thirds of homes in the UK can now access ultrafast broadband via fibre-optic technology called ‘G.fast’ or ‘Fibre To The Premises’ (FTTP).
FTTP, also known as full fibre, is the next generation of broadband. It removes the need to rely on copper phone lines and instead connects fibre cables straight to your home. This means there’s no slowdown on the data between the street cabinet and your property and the speed and strength are much more powerful than any previous fibre broadband technology as a result. Common internet issues like buffering and outages become almost nonexistent.
This technology will future-proof homes and businesses across the UK because, once it’s installed, properties won’t need to install new cables for their broadband for decades.
Gigaclear’s state-of-the-art network stretches out to over 300,000 rural homes and businesses across more than 22 counties in the south west, the midlands and the south east. Growing all the time, it’s the number one rural full fibre broadband provider.
Gigaclear isn’t currently signed up to Ofcom’s voluntary code practice on better broadband speeds. Customers scores are mixed, but mainly above average, on its Trustpilot score for connectivity.
Starting from just £17 a month for full fibre speeds, Gigaclear offers much faster packages for less money. It’s great value and there are no one-off upfront set-up costs or fees.
One thing to watch for is being out of contract. Once this ends Gigaclear’s prices almost double, so keep an eye on how long you’ve got left.
Average price guide
All of Gigaclear’s contracts are 18 months. As advised previously, watch out for the end of these as prices rise significantly.
Gigaclear doesn’t have TV or mobile packages you can bundle with its broadband, it just focuses on full fibre broadband.
There is an option to add a phone line as an add-on service. This currently costs an extra £3 on top of whatever broadband plan you select. This phone line is not a traditional landline, instead it is delivered via your broadband line in the form of VoIP (voice over IP).
This broadband provider doesn’t currently offer any reward incentives with its deals.
Yes, unfortunately like most other big providers, Gigaclear will now increase its monthly prices every year. It finally put up its prices in October 23 after years of remaining true to its fixed price promises.
However, it didn't follow the huge inflation rate of the CPI – consumer price index – plus, service rate (Vodafone hiked it up by 14.4%) like most other providers. It raised price by between £1.50 and £3 per month, considerably less than the others.
You should factor the above in when signing up as you’ll probably need to agree to an annual price rise as part of the terms and conditions.
Because it uses its own infrastructure rather than your existing landline, there's a bit more time and effort needed for set up.
Gigaclear needs to physically install a cable to your house first. There are two parts to this. An engineer will visit the property to complete a survey and carry out external works. Then, depending what is needed, a second visit for internal installation will be carried out.
There are three types of installation that might be chosen. Either overhead, where fibre will be connected from the nearest serviceable telephone pole to the property. Underground (existing), where fibre will be connected from the nearest BT chamber to your property. Or, underground (traditional), where they will run fibre from the property to the nearest Gigaclear connection point.
All are free. And all result in an unobtrusive looking wall box, externally and internally, to complete your broadband journey.
Most packages come with the Linksy Dual-band router. The fastest, the Hyperfast 900, will get you the Linksys Tri-band router.
Both are great modern routers will strong specs. And both are compatible with the Linksy app so you can manage your home Wi-Fi from your smart devices. The latter is a tri-band version which is better equipped to deal with the faster speeds.
Smart WiFi
This add-on service gives customers extra Linksys routers to help boost coverage around their home. Along with the routers you get a guarantee of at least 10Mbps in every room. Customers need to choose the plan based on the size of their property.
The Ultrafast 600 and Hyperfast 900 plan include Smart WiFi for free. For the others, it starts from an extra £6 a month, depending on how many extra routers are needed.
Trustpilot gives Gigaclear a strong 4.5 for its customer support score with 67% scoring the provider 5-stars. There’s plenty of positive feedback that points towards prompt, polite and friendly service. Have a look at the latest reviews here.
If you’d like to speak to a human being, Gigaclear’s customer service team is available via phone: 01865 591 131
Monday-Friday - 8am - 8pm (Phone lines open 8am – 7pm)
Saturday - 10am - 5pm
Sunday - 10am - 3pm (live chat only)
Email: Support@Gigaclear.com
Live chat: here
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